Gough, O: The World Encompassed
Simon Callow (narrator)
Fretwork
Narrator Simon Callow is terrific, Fretwork mesmerising
Gough, O: The World Encompassed
Simon Callow (narrator)
Fretwork
Purchase product
Narrator Simon Callow is terrific, Fretwork mesmerising
About
During his journey to circumnavigate the globe Sir Francis Drake took four viol players with him, who played both for his devotions and to the native peoples around the world that they encountered.
Fretwork have commissioned British composer Orlando Gough to recreate this remarkable journey in sound, in a work for viol consort that combines music from 16th century England with the ‘sounds’ that these musicians would have heard and perhaps tried to recreate on their journey – from the rebab and the gamelan to the mesmerising chanting of the Native Americans. The result is a musical narrative of one of the most significant achievements of the English golden age and an evocation of the earliest musical encounters between east and west.
This premiere recording is interspersed with narration from The World Encompassed, one of the first literary accounts of the journey, read by Simon Callow.
Contents and tracklist
Awards and reviews
September 2017
Narrator Simon Callow is terrific, Fretwork mesmerising
Early Music Review May 2017
Gough’s music is extraordinarily imaginative and evocative as he imagines the memories of local music from around the world
16th June 2017
It all adds up to an inventive musical travelogue
September 2017
It’s the musical equivalent of being asked to make a raft out of plastic bottles and paperclips, a challenge Gough meets with all his customary wit and invention. It’s also tremendous fun. This mixture of old and new, familiar and alien, really shouldn’t work; but, stitched together by Simon Callow’s characterful narration, it forms an exotic tapestry – a vivid portrait of the age of exploration
June 2017
It’s a fascinating idea… Gough has met his brief handsomely and full marks go to Fretwork for seeing the initial inspiration and following it through to realisation
26th May 2017
Ancient meets modern and east meets west in this weird but wonderful project...it comes out polished and provocative on this double album...Gough imaginatively and freely evokes the sort of local music that Drake’s sailors might have heard in South America and Asia.
